


Quiet Day

by The_Lady_of_Purpletown



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Fantastic Beasts Secret Santa, Gen, Humor, Magical Mayhem, Secret Santa, inside the suitcase, long-suffering newt, writing struggles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 10:33:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9119788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Lady_of_Purpletown/pseuds/The_Lady_of_Purpletown
Summary: Writing can be a struggle.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [starbird_jinnobi482](https://archiveofourown.org/users/starbird_jinnobi482/gifts).



> Have a fantastic and magical new year!

Sometimes it was nice to have a quiet day. To just stay inside the suitcase, sit against a tree and work on a manuscript, undisturbed and undistracted.

Well... Undisturbed by people, that was.

“Dougal,” Newt sighed, looking up from his notebook. “I’ve already told you. I _will_ play with you, but just let me finish this.”

The Demiguise indignantly blinked its large, yellow eyes at him from where it sat on the grass.

“I know I’ve been taking a long time, but tugging at my sleeve every five minutes won’t make it go any faster. It’s not easy to write this, you know. The Swooping Evil is a complex creature.”

Dougal crossed his long arms.

“I know you get bored,” Newt said. “But can’t you play with one of the others? Surely one of the Occamies is up for a game of hide-and-seek.”

This earned him another unimpressed look. Newt supposed it wouldn’t offer much of a challenge to the Demiguise. Even if the Occamy understood the game’s objective and didn’t stay around, expecting to be fed, it would be rather predictable to take cover in a very small space. Dougal would find it in a heartbeat.  

With a wizard who knew how a Demiguise’s eyesight worked, however, it was a whole different story. At least if Dougal’s eager attempts to make Newt play were anything to go by.

“Ten minutes,” Newt promised.

With a final glare, Dougal disappeared.

Newt shook his head and scratched his chin with his quill, trying to remember what he was going to write next about cocoon shapes. But before the tip touched the parchment, the page was torn out of the book.

“DOUGAL!”

Newt jumped to his feet and lunged at the piece of parchment floating through the air, but his fingertips just missed it.

“Dougal, come here! Give it back! Now!” He started running, but the Demiguise had gained speed too.

For a moment Newt hoped that it would simply hide in its nest with the loot, but the page flew by quickly, straight to the Occamies. They squeaked in fear and raised themselves, snapping at the parchment and probably giving Dougal a few nips.

“Calm down!” Newt cried. “There’s nothing to be afraid of!”

But the Occamies were driving each other into a panic. Their necks spiralling around each other, they rose higher and higher above the nest to get at their attacker, who had taken the page to the top branch of a nearby tree.

However, Newt didn’t have time to worry about his writing being taken to a higher level, as another of his beasts saw an opportunity it had long been waiting for.

The Niffler had been trying to get its paws on the silver Occamy egg shells since the first time it saw them. But if it stole one of the unhatched eggs, the results could be catastrophic. And right now it was very, very close.

“No!” Newt shouted, diving back to the Occamy nest, but the Niffler tucked the egg in its pouch and hurried off.

“Stop! You don’t know what you’re doing! This isn’t just a shiny thing for you to hoard! It’s a living, beautiful creature!”

The Niffler had never been convinced by logical arguments before. And yet it stopped just a few yards away.

Newt was rather baffled, until he saw the Billywigs, their jewel-like shells glittering in the suitcase’s warm sunlight, and the way the Niffler followed them with its quivering nose.

“Leave them alone!” Newt warned.

The Niffler, of course, reached up a paw anyway, but it could only grab thin air. The Billywig it was aiming for had disappeared into the Fwooper’s beak.

“Guys!” Newt pulled at his hair in exasperation. Then he realised that the Niffler was still staring at its paw in confusion, so he grabbed the creature and carefully reclaimed the Occamy egg.

“Now stay away from them!” he told the Niffler as it struggled against his hold and reached out to the egg. “Steal my Galleons if you must, but leave the other beasts alone!”

Keeping the egg close to his chest, he let the Niffler go and looked around to check that the Fwooper was at safe distance from the remaining Billywigs. He was about to return to the Occamy nest when Pickett stuck his little head out of his breast pocket, looking annoyed.

“Oh, come on!” Newt said. “This isn’t my fault. I wanted it to be quiet just as much as you do. Now don’t go blaming me for disturbing your nap!”

The Bowtruckle huffed and returned to its refuge.

Newt had to cope with another set of glares as he approached the Occamies, but they settled down when he lowered the egg between them. Cooing, they all curled around it so much that he was a little worried they’d get tangled.

He let out a sigh, composing himself before he looked up at the treetop. The Demiguise was still there, but it was a long way up.

“ _Accio Swooping Evil essay_!”

It was worth a try, but of course Dougal was holding onto the page too tightly, so it merely fluttered in Newt’s direction for a moment. And it really wasn’t the kind of day to climb a tree. With his current luck, the Erumpent would decide the tree was in the way and explode it as soon as Newt reached Dougal.

It was a shame, really. He’d been struggling with that piece for hours. But at least he had figured out what to write. He could just take it down again some other time. When his focus wasn’t as shattered as it was now.

“Don’t you think there will be any hide-and-seek today!” he said loudly, turning away from the Demiguise.

Yes, his writing was probably over for today. He’d better relax and feed the Mooncalves instead.


End file.
